The Atarashift Blog
Insights for working in Japan
Guides, interviews, and honest advice for international talent building a career in Japan.
The Atarashift Blog
Guides, interviews, and honest advice for international talent building a career in Japan.
Tokyo pays about 20% more and has 2.8 times the work-visa holders. Osaka's rent is a third lower. Government data on jobs, pay and costs.
For most foreigners looking for work, Tokyo is the better place to start, and Osaka is the better place to live once you have a job. Tokyo has 2.8 times as many people on Japan's main professional work visa and pays about ¥69,400 more a month on average. Osaka's rent is about a third lower, but outside housing its prices are only 2.3% below Tokyo's.
Key Takeaways
- Tokyo had 130,952 people on the Engineer/Specialist in Humanities visa at the end of 2025. Osaka had 46,831.
- Average monthly pay for full-time workers was ¥418,300 in Tokyo and ¥348,900 in Osaka in 2025.
- Osaka's prices are 4.1% lower overall. Housing is 24.5% cheaper, but everything else is only 2.3% cheaper.
- Osaka's foreign workforce grew 19.1% in a year, the second-fastest rise of any prefecture.
- Rule of thumb: an Osaka offer up to about ¥45,000 a month below a Tokyo offer leaves you even or ahead.
Looking for roles right now? Browse jobs in Japan.
It depends on what you need first. If you need a job, especially one in English, Tokyo has far more of them. If you already have a job offer or work remotely, Osaka gives you more space for your money.
The table puts the main numbers side by side. Each one comes from a Japanese government source, listed at the end.
| Tokyo | Osaka | |
|---|---|---|
| Foreign residents (end of 2025) | 801,438 | 375,319 |
| Engineer/Specialist in Humanities visa holders | 130,952 | 46,831 |
| Foreign workers (October 2025) | 652,251 | 208,051 |
| Workplaces employing foreigners | 87,512 | 31,715 |
| Average monthly pay, full-time (2025) | ¥418,300 | ¥348,900 |
| Minimum wage per hour (from autumn 2026) | ¥1,280 | ¥1,231 |
| Overall price level (Japan = 100) | 104.2 | 99.9 |
| Housing price level (Japan = 100) | 129.8 | 98.0 |
| Average monthly rent, city centre (2023) | ¥93,561 | ¥61,682 |
| Job openings per job seeker (August 2026) | 1.07 | 0.95 |
Rent is the average across all rented homes in Tokyo's 23 wards and Osaka city, including public housing. Pay is scheduled monthly pay before tax, excluding overtime and bonuses.
Tokyo, by a wide margin. In October 2025, 652,251 foreigners worked in Tokyo, a quarter of all foreign workers in Japan. Osaka had 208,051 (MHLW, 2026). Tokyo also had 87,512 workplaces employing at least one foreigner, against 31,715 in Osaka.
Osaka is catching up, though. Its foreign workforce grew 19.1% in a year, the second-fastest rise of any prefecture after Wakayama. Tokyo grew 11.3%. Foreign residents rose 12.5% in Osaka and 8.5% in Tokyo during 2025 (ISA, 2026).
The visa mix shows what kind of jobs each city offers. The Engineer/Specialist in Humanities/International Services visa covers most office and professional work, from engineering to marketing. Tokyo has 2.8 times as many holders as Osaka.
| Status of residence (end of 2025) | Tokyo | Osaka |
|---|---|---|
| Engineer/Specialist in Humanities | 130,952 | 46,831 |
| Student | 150,254 | 50,225 |
| Specified Skilled Worker | 26,188 | 26,015 |
| Technical Intern Training | 17,491 | 23,482 |
| Dependent | 85,954 | 39,818 |
Source: Immigration Services Agency, foreign residents by prefecture and status, end of 2025 (table 6).
Specified Skilled Worker numbers are almost identical, and Osaka has more technical interns than Tokyo. Those visas cover fields such as manufacturing, construction, care and food service. So a bigger share of Osaka's foreign workforce is in hands-on work, while Tokyo's leans towards office jobs.
Yes, but the pool is much smaller. With about a third of Tokyo's professional visa holders, expect fewer openings and less choice of employer. The English-speaking community is also thinner. Tokyo has 23,683 American residents and Osaka 4,238. For Indian residents the figures are 21,224 and 2,158.
Two things widen the search. Kyoto and Kobe are both a short train ride from central Osaka, so you can job-hunt across the whole Kansai region. Remote and hybrid roles based in Tokyo can also work from Osaka if the employer agrees. Our guide to working in Japan without speaking Japanese covers which roles tend to use English.
On Hello Work's figures, slightly. In August 2026 Osaka had 0.95 job openings for every job seeker, the lowest of all 47 prefectures. Tokyo had 1.07 (MHLW, 2026). Both figures count jobs by where the work is done.
Treat these ratios with care. Hello Work is Japan's public employment service, and its listings lean towards local, Japanese-language jobs. Professional roles for foreigners are mostly filled through company careers pages, agencies and job platforms instead.
About 20% more on average. Full-time workers in Tokyo earned ¥418,300 a month in scheduled pay in 2025, the highest in Japan. Osaka paid ¥348,900, so it sits 16.6% below Tokyo (MHLW, 2026). That's still above the national average of ¥340,600. Only four prefectures pay above that average: Tokyo, Kanagawa, Aichi and Osaka.
Part of the gap is about which jobs are in each city, not the city itself. Tokyo has more head offices and more finance and IT roles, and those pay more anywhere. The minimum wage shows the floor is much closer: ¥1,280 an hour in Tokyo against ¥1,231 in Osaka, a 3.8% gap (MHLW, 2026).
Your visa doesn't set a different salary floor by city. For the Engineer/Specialist in Humanities visa, Immigration asks that you earn at least what a Japanese employee would for the same work. Our guide to the work visa minimum salary explains how that's checked. For pay by visa type and age, see our average salary for foreigners in Japan.
Yes, but almost all of the saving is rent. The Statistics Bureau's regional price index puts Osaka at 99.9 and Tokyo at 104.2, with Japan as a whole at 100. That makes Osaka 4.1% cheaper overall (MIC, 2026).
Split out housing and the picture changes. Tokyo's housing index is 129.8, the highest in Japan, while Osaka's is 98.0. Take rent out of the basket and Osaka is just 2.3% cheaper. Food is 3.7% cheaper. Utilities are cheap in both, and Osaka's are the lowest in the country.
In yen, the average rented home cost ¥93,561 a month in Tokyo's 23 wards and ¥61,682 in Osaka city in 2023 (MIC via e-Stat). That's ¥31,879 a month, or about ¥383,000 a year. These averages cover every kind of rented home, so a studio for one person costs less in both cities and the yen gap is smaller.
For a full Tokyo budget, see our Tokyo cost of living breakdown. Renting works the same way in both cities, with the same deposits, key money and guarantor companies. Our guide on how to rent an apartment in Japan walks through it.
On averages, yes. We ran the numbers on what each city pays and charges. The ¥69,400 extra in Tokyo's average monthly pay is gross. At these salaries, social insurance, income tax and residence tax take roughly a quarter of each extra yen, leaving about ¥52,000. That beats the ¥31,879 rent gap, even with Tokyo's other prices running 2.3% higher.
But you won't earn "the average". You'll earn whatever your offer says. Turn it around: the rent saving plus Osaka's slightly cheaper everyday prices is worth roughly ¥45,000 a month in gross pay. So an Osaka offer up to about ¥45,000 below a Tokyo offer leaves you even or ahead. For a small studio the rent gap is smaller, and so is that threshold.
Two cases favour Osaka clearly:
Both are big, safe, well-connected cities with large foreign communities. The differences are in scale and mix.
For your first weeks in either city, our checklist of things to do after arriving in Japan covers registration, bank accounts and phone contracts.
Choose Tokyo if you're still job hunting, you need an English-speaking workplace, or you work in finance, IT, consulting or another field concentrated in head offices. More openings and higher pay outweigh the rent.
Choose Osaka if you already have a job or remote work, your field is well represented in Kansai, or space matters more than salary. A rent saving of around ¥30,000 a month goes a long way.
Many people do both: start their career in Tokyo, then move to Osaka later with experience, Japanese and a better negotiating position.
Yes. Osaka's prices are 4.1% lower overall, but most of that is housing, which is 24.5% cheaper. Without rent, Osaka is only 2.3% cheaper than Tokyo.
On average, yes. Full-time workers earned ¥348,900 a month in Osaka in 2025 against ¥418,300 in Tokyo. Part of that gap comes from Tokyo having more high-paying head-office jobs.
Neither. Visa rules are the same across Japan. Your employer applies through the regional immigration bureau for your area, and the same standards apply.
You can, but it's harder than in Tokyo. Osaka has far fewer English-speaking jobs and a smaller English-speaking community. Basic Japanese makes daily life and the job search much easier.
Tokyo has more: 801,438 foreign residents at the end of 2025, against 375,319 in Osaka. Osaka's foreign population is growing faster, up 12.5% in 2025 compared with 8.5% in Tokyo.
About two and a half hours on the Nozomi shinkansen from Tokyo Station to Shin-Osaka.
Decide which matters more right now: the job or the rent. If it's the job, start your search in Tokyo and keep Kansai on your list. If you'd rather be found than keep applying, Atarashift lets verified employers in Japan come to you. Upload your profile once and get scouted by companies already hiring internationally.
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